Fr. Nivin's Homily Blog

 “Taking the calf, they had made, he fused it in the fire and then ground it down to powder, which he scattered on the water and made the children of Israel drink.” Moses was really furious and was fast to execute a terrible punishment for the people. I wonder if he reacted that way on behalf of God or if he took the offence personally. In today’s reading, the children of Israel indeed committed a very grave sin. They committed it while Moses was away and left the leadership to Aaron. The sin was against God, who was aware of what happened, yet He did not punish them immediately. He later answered Moses, “When it is time for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.” God has His plan and His time. What He needed Moses to do was simply this, “…go and lead the people to the place I have told you.” So, a good Christian leader should focus on doing the job God has instructed, and respect God’s plan and time. Leave the judgement and punishment to God. Moses was totally faithful to...

In those days: God delivered all these commandments: “I, the LORD, am your God…” In today's first reading, Moses passed on the Ten Commandments to the Israelites as he had received from God. Most emphasis is given to the first commandment because God wants His chosen people to focus on it seriously. It is the foundation on which all the other commandments rest. Whenever Israel failed in the first commandment, they would get into serious consequences. I am not an exorcist, but I have assisted exorcists as a translator on numerous occasions. Demonic possessions take place when people allow it through intentional offences against God. The exorcists would often ask questions to identify which commandment was violated, and commonly, it is the first commandment that was broken, such as playing Ouija board, practicing black magic or white magic, engaging in witchcraft, and so on. Violating the first commandment is denying God as our Lord, and that is the easiest way for Satan to possess a...

 "You shall indeed hear but not understand; you shall indeed look but never see." Have you ever experienced this before? Well, I have. When I was in school, I heard everything the teachers taught, but understood nothing. I always looked at what the teachers wrote on the chalk board, but my mind saw nothing it could comprehend. Math, English, Chemistry were subjects that brought me out of this world, into the great outer space. You can easily imagine how frustrated my teachers were with me those days. Anyway, I didn’t like them either. In today’s Gospel, Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah to explain why He spoke in parables to the crowd. He understands why they could not understand, he sees how they could not see. Such blindness and hardness of heart are not new, from the time of Moses, it has been thus. In today's first reading, the Israelites witnessed the powerful forms of God’s presence – thunder, lightning, clouds, smoke, blasting trumpets all taking place in supernatura...

 “For we who live are constantly being given up to death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” This is a very profound description of the life of an apostle of Christ, for Christ. St. Paul worded it so clearly. Let us look at a few phrases up close. ‘…constantly given up to death…’ This was the success behind the evangelization led by the apostles. They were not afraid to die like Jesus, in fact, they constantly give of themselves totally for the mission, holding back nothing for themselves. ‘…for the sake of Jesus…’ There is only one purpose in the apostles’ life, it is all for Jesus. They live by His teachings and die for His mission. ‘…manifested in our mortal flesh…’ Every apostle in action is a walking, living Jesus Christ. In Galatians 2:20, St. Paul also said, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” As we celebrate this feast of St. James the Apostle, we are not celebrating the life of James, but we are exp...

 “The LORD himself will fight for you; you have only to keep still.” Recently I went off a few days with my older cousin priest to Wisconsin. We stayed over a beautiful lake house at Luck, WI.  Our host Russ told us not to go outside at night because he recently spotted a bear a few times near his house. I wondered then what I should do if a big bear ever attacks me. What would you do? What would you do? Some people advised that when a bear attacks, play dead. According to Stephen Herrero, a bear expert, playing dead makes the bear think you are not a threat and so it may back off. Thus saves the day, and your life! But truly, it is easier said than done. When we come face to face with danger, when we meet with an emergency, something we think is beyond our strength to handle, many of us would panic. We would lose our sense of logic, we lose our cool, we start to do things which might just make the situation worse, we say things which might backfire. And here in the first read...

 In two days, all our students will be back in school. They will be in the classrooms, in the fields, in the halls…everywhere. How do you feel about that? Holy Mass, our celebration of the Eucharist, is the source and summit of Christian life. It is the source where we receive spiritual nourishment, enlightenment, love, mercy, and peace. It is the summit, the highest form of prayer, worship and thanksgiving to God, who first gave, who first loved. We are now all gathered here, faculty members, staff, school board, foundation members, and friends to thank God and to seek His graces for this academic year. We all need it, don’t we? These days our first readings are taken from the book of Exodus. I picked these verses for our reflection today: And they complained to Moses, “Were there no burial places in Egypt that you had to bring us out here to die in the desert? Why did you do this to us? Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Did we not tell you this in Egypt when we said, 'Leave us a...

 “While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.” “Let them grow together until harvest…” I picked these two verses from today’s Gospel reading. If you have read the parish newsletter, you may have seen my article about the weeds in my planter. The latest update is, they have now grown even taller, are thriving and look very healthy. I actually enjoy observing their growth. They don’t need water nor fertilizer yet with zero care, they grow. But the deer, bunnies and the ground squirrel in my neighborhood are not eating them. These animals used to just gobble up the flowers and vegetables I planted previous spring. They can tell that my plants were good while these weeds are bad. The weeds grow naturally. I didn’t plant them. Where did they come from? How did it happen? Jesus says in His parable, ‘while everyone was asleep’. Yes, while I was doing nothing, my enemy did something. Negligence, laziness, procrastination, I was asleep....

 "If you knew what this meant, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice’, you would not have condemned these innocent men."  Jesus is quoting the words God had spoken through the prophet Hosea in the past. He knows that the Pharisees were familiar with the phrase and background but obviously they did not seem to fully understand what it meant. Now, do we know what it means? The root word of mercy is "misericordia," which means a compassionate heart. It is the heart that matters, not the externals. In the first reading, we see God instructing Moses in detail how each Israelite family should offer a lamb and the whole community would sacrifice all the offerings together, share out the roasted meat and apply the lamb’s blood on door posts for the Lord to pass over, destroying only the Egyptians, not the Israelites. The Israelites were to celebrate this festival yearly through all generations as a remembrance of God’s saving grace and liberation of the Israelites from slavery...

 "If they ask me, 'What is his name?' what am I to tell them?" God replied, "I AM who AM." Yesterday, we asked ‘Who am I?’. Today, God is telling us who He is, but in a deep and profound way. Do you understand God’s name? I didn’t understand until I learned it in Scripture class at the Seminary. Still, the explanation of why God identified Himself as ‘I am who am’ is rather complex. The question is, do we really need to understand it? Did Moses understand it? I don't think so. At that point in time, Moses was already 80 years old, having spent 40 years shepherding sheep with his Father-in-law Jethro. At that stage of his life, he probably just needed to know what and how, not why. In the readings, we do not see Moses questioning further, he did not need to be convinced, he just wanted to know what God wants of him and how he should do it. He took it simply but solemnly and followed God's directives with his heart. When I first came to this country, a...

 But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?" Moses’ response reminds me of an action-packed movie by Jackie Chan titled, "Who Am I?" In the movie, his character lost his memory after an accident and went through much danger and adventure to find out his identity and accomplish his mission. Along the way he had to decide who were the people he could trust. The movie aside, back to today’s readings. I was like Moses when Bishop Joensen told me about my transfer to St. Ambrose Cathedral. I too questioned, “Who am I to take on this position? There are others better than I. I am not competent enough for this.” Sometimes when I approach people to assist in parish projects as leaders, they shy away and are too modest to say yes. They don’t think they are capable enough. We might be looking at ourselves and feel unworthy. We might be looking at our life and feel uneasy stepping out of our comfort zone. But look...

 Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will repay you." The woman, therefore, took the child and nursed him. When the child grew, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter. Pharaoh’s daughter took the child to be her son but unknowingly, asked the real mother to nurse him. To save the boy’s life, the real mother nursed her own son to be given to Pharoah’s daughter. For more than thirty years thereafter, Moses lived in the palace. Did Pharaoh’s daughter know the real Moses? Do we know our real self? I think our parents and siblings, the people whom we grew up with, would know us better than anyone, maybe better than ourselves. Especially our siblings, we cannot hide much from them. They know all our tricks in the dark, the things which we hide so well from our parents. Even now, when I visit and stay with my sisters, they often comment that I am still the same naughty Nivin from our childhood days, despite my efforts to act cool and be...

 "And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil…" How many of you do gardening or farming? When you start planting, would you scatter seeds everywhere like this sower  in the parable? I see most of you shaking your heads. Yeah, I agree. Even as a little boy, when I heard this parable, I could not understand the man who sowed the seeds in this parable Jesus told. Because I grew up in the farm and knew that we would never waste precious seeds this way, we would be careful to make sure every seed is sown on good soil so that we can get maximum yield at harvest time. We would never scatter any seed on the path, on rocky ground, or among the thorns, because we know that no plant could grow from these places. You need good soil for the seed to take root and grow well. So, what is Jesus really telling us? Let us check out today's first reading, note where it says, "Just as from the heavens, the...

 "Not only will I go down to Egypt with you; I will also bring you back here, after Joseph has closed your eyes." With this promise of God, Jacob was greatly comforted and confident to follow God’s direction to leave the land of Canaan and move to Egypt. Why so? In Oriental cultures, it is a tradition for people to be buried on their family property, within their home ground. You can imagine there could be generations of forefathers buried in the backyard of every house, resting in peace.  Thus, people would never sell their property nor move out of it because their forefathers were buried there, and it would also be their final resting place. Many people who went overseas to work would insist on being sent back to their home countries and be buried in their home ground when they die. Jacob had that same concern. He wanted to be buried in the same cave at Machpelah where Abraham and Sarah, and Isaac and Rebecca were buried. Otherwise, he believed he would not rest in peace....

 "You shall no longer be spoken of as Jacob but as Israel."  Jacob was well known for giving new names to places where he had a memorable experience. In yesterday's first reading, we saw how he changed the name of the place where he had his beautiful dream of angels and stairs to heaven, from Luz to Bethel. Today, he wrestled with God’s angel, and he named the wrestling place Penuel. In the chapters that follow, we will see him name another place Manahaim and so on. The names of these places carry the memory of the event that happened to Jacob. Interestingly, in today’s reading, we see God's angel changing Jacob's name to Israel, because now, the person of Jacob was what carried the memory of the event. ‘Israel’ means ‘the one who wrestles with God’.  What is the significance of a name? Many roads and streets are named after people who contributed to the history of the land, this ensures that their names and the events of their time will not be forgotten. Jesus sa...

 “Then he had a dream: a stairway rested on the ground, with its top reaching to the heavens; and God's messengers were going up and down on it. And there was the LORD standing beside him and saying: "I, the LORD, am the God of your forefather Abraham and the God of Isaac.” Dreams are fascinating. I am usually aware of many of my dreams, both wonderful and scary ones. Sometimes, I get woken up by the sound of my alarm in the middle of a nice dream. I would stop the alarm and try to sleep again to continue that dream. Do you do that too? Sometimes the dreams are so terrible, I would wake up middle of the night in shock. Someone once told me that we dream in the languages we know. I have had good conversations in different languages in my dreams. But I have never experienced a dream as beautiful as Jacob's. Seeing a stairway from heaven to earth with angels going up and down and hearing the voice of God, that is so wonderful. We all need dreams like this. At that point in Ja...

 "For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” A yoke is a wooden beam sometimes used between a pair of oxen so that they pull together a load, usually to till the land. The pair of oxen walks together so that the work is done with less effort. It was probably first used around 4000 BC, so the people listening to Jesus, who were mostly farmers, would understand what He was talking about. But what is this yoke that Jesus was referencing? Because the work done by the oxen was hard labour and the yoke restricted their freedom, the term ‘yoke’ had been used to refer to burdensome life, hardship and heavy responsibility. The Jewish people were at that time burdened by the law. The 613 sub-laws created by the Jewish religious leaders made life very difficult and burdensome for the people. They made it seem impossible to satisfy God’s expectations, no one except the Jewish leaders could fulfil all that the sub-laws prescribed. Here Jesus is saying that His yoke, His way of keeping the fait...

 "God Himself will provide the sheep for the burnt offering." Why did God require Abraham to sacrifice his son – his one and only son, someone he loved so much, someone who did nothing wrong, someone whom God gave to Abraham as a blessing? Why take away after He has given? It is hard to understand God’s intention if we only see it from our logic. Well, look at it this way, if this incident did not happen, generations after would never fully respect Abraham as the father of the faith, one who trusted and loved God, even to the point of sacrificing his own son in full obedience. And Abraham was right, God did provide the sheep for the sacrifice, the ram at Mount Moriah and His own beloved Son at Calvary. This sacrifice which Abraham was prepared to make prefigured the sacrifice which God ultimately made, letting His own Son, Jesus, die on the cross. Many of us might think that Isaac was just a little boy, it was a cruel request from God and a heartless decision by Abraham. But ...

Go out to all the world and tell the Good News. I have been asked numerous times, "Are your parents Christians?" or "How long has your family been Catholic?"  Because I come from a Hindu-majority, Christian-minority country, many people wonder if my family and I are recent converts to the faith. Do you also wonder the same? Well, we - my family line, have been Catholics for around 19 centuries, without a break. Effectively, we have always been Catholic. Long before the evangelization of some European countries, St. Thomas the Apostle had already brought the Gospel to India. Tradition says that St. Thomas went to India in 52 A.D. after proclaiming the Gospel in Persia. He spent 20 years in India, forming seven church communities in South India, and was eventually martyred in Chennai in 72 A.D. It's important to note that St. Thomas did not go to India to preach the Gospel to Hindus. In fact, he went there in search of the Jews.  pIn ancient times, there was a sig...

 "Can something be done for her?" In ancient times, there were no motels for travelers transiting from one city to another. They relied on the hospitality of households in the cities they visit or pass. The households then had to trust that the travelers come in peace. It seemed that prophet Elisha passed through Shunem quite often, going to and from Galilee and Mount Carmel to pray. And we know that very likely, he was often offered meals by the household of the Shunamite lady, who could be someone well respected and wealthy. Finally, in today’s first reading, the Shunamite lady decided to offer more hospitality to prophet Elisha, believing that he was a holy man, for his regular trips to Mount Carmel. In appreciation for their generosity beyond basic hospitality, prophet Elisha reciprocated to offer what he could for the Shunamite lady.  "Can something be done for her?" Yes, he could make an offering to God on Mount Carmel for her needs. He could do something for ...